Former Minister of Aviation and Chancellor of the Athena Centre, Osita Chidoka, has identified the use of technology, intense political competition, and increased voter participation as reasons Nigerians should be encouraged by the outcome of the Osun State governorship election.
Chidoka argued that the Osun election demonstrated the progress Nigeria has made in electoral technology and election management.
He made the remarks on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he assessed the conduct of the August 15 governorship election and its implications for Nigeria’s electoral process.
“I am an international optimist. I critique to make for changes. So last Saturday was another example of the progress we have made in the electoral technology and conduct of our elections,” he said.
Chidoka noted that the election was characterised by intense competition, which he said was important in creating an environment where the votes of the people could determine the outcome.
He also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its deployment of technology, saying it enabled Nigerians to monitor the election and access results in real time.
“The technology in Osun was very helpful. I would say that INEC performed very well in the use of the technology,” he stated.
According to him, the combination of technology and the activities of election-monitoring organisations reduced the possibility of manipulating the results because figures from polling units were becoming publicly available.
He asserted that the process had effectively removed the “darkness” that previously surrounded elections, as citizens and election observers could independently monitor results as they emerged.
Chidoka further highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in the election, describing it as one of the developments Nigerians should be happy about.
“The more important one, which is one I think every Nigerian should be happy about, is that AI played a critical role in this election,” he remarked.
He explained that artificial intelligence helped organisations monitoring the election process analyse and process results much faster than would have been possible through traditional methods.
Chidoka also linked the increased voter turnout to the difficulty of manipulating the election, arguing that a highly engaged electorate makes large-scale vote-buying less feasible.
He noted that Osun had recorded significant growth in voter registration, rising from about 1.9 million in the previous election cycle to approximately 2.3 million, while the number of valid votes also increased substantially.
“An engaged population makes it difficult to rig an election,” he asserted.
The former Minister, however, identified areas where INEC could improve ahead of the 2027 general election, particularly the transparency of the collation process.
He urged the electoral commission to publish EC8B forms electronically in the same manner that polling-unit results are uploaded, arguing that this would allow citizens to monitor the movement of results from polling units through the various stages of collation.
“Enter the results on the BVAS, take a snapshot of the results, enter it in the e-collation and then post the EC8B on the web, like you are doing with EC8A,” Chidoka advised.
He argued that greater visibility at collation centres would address concerns about manipulation and reduce the likelihood of election disputes reaching the courts.
Chidoka equally urged politicians to focus on convincing voters rather than attempting to manipulate electoral results, saying the emergence of technology and increased citizen participation had changed the dynamics of elections.
“Politicians who still talk about writing results and going to INEC and falsifying results are like those slave traders who did not know the world had moved on from slave trade,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2027, he expressed optimism that Nigerians would increasingly use technology to monitor elections and ensure that their votes count.
He disclosed that the Athena Centre planned to expand its election-monitoring efforts, including deploying thousands of observers if necessary, to provide real-time information on election results and the progress of result uploads.
Chidoka maintained that the ultimate objective should be to ensure that the will of Nigerians is accurately reflected in election outcomes.
“Our most important thing is, let the will of Nigerians be reflected. And when it is reflected, I believe everybody will accept it in good faith, where you know that nobody had an upper hand in the election.”
He added that Nigeria’s electoral system should evolve to a point where election outcomes are determined by voters rather than through manipulation or prolonged legal battles.
